Local Look: Chicagoland

Event: Tropicana 400, Tropicana Twister 300

Local papers covering: Joliet Herald-News, Chicago Sun-Times

Kenseth dissects new point system

The deal: Dick Goss of the Joliet Herald-News says Matt Kenseth won five Cup races in 2002 and finished eighth in the driver standings. Last year, he won one race yet breezed to championship in a landslide, leading the pack for a NASCAR-record 33 consecutive weeks.

	Matt Kenseth

But the 32-year-old native of Cambridge, Wis., who drives the No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Ford, knows he has not seen everything quite yet.

Why we care: The importance of the stretch of races leading up to the final 10, beginning with Sunday's Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, the 18th race in the 36-race schedule, is that you do not want to do anything to knock yourself out of a qualifying position for the chase. Whether this system will make winning a championship easier or more difficult than it was in the past, well, let's wait and see.

"That's a hard question to answer until the whole season," Kenseth told the paper. "If Jimmie Johnson and Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. (who are running 1-2 in the points race) keep up the year they have had this year and don't make any mistakes and don't have anything break, and if they're 400 points ahead of the rest of us at the break and they still win the championship, then I'll say it was tough to win."

For more news on Matt Kenseth, click here.

The national pass time

2004 Nextel Cup Series  Results  Standings  Schedule  Tickets  Drivers  Crew Chiefs  Teams  Statistics  Video Highlights  Best 25: Last 6 races  Best Starts by Driver  Best Finishes by Driver

The deal: Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times says forget those vintage memories of NASCAR as a strange pastime confined to the Southeastern portion of the United States. It is no longer a sport for barefoot moonshiners. Hasn't been for generations.

Even in a stick-and-ball city like Chicago, the roar from 43 stock cars will be thunderous when America's most popular auto racing series comes to town for the Tropicana 400.

Why we care: It may be difficult for diehard Cubs, Sox and Bears fans to understand, but even in a community where baseball and football rule, people are beginning to realize that stock-car racing is for real.

The sport is experiencing incredible growth in an era when many sports are having growing pains. The only question is who's enjoying the growth more -- racing fans or racing sponsors?

For more NASCAR news from around the country, click here.

Management has racetrack heading in positive direction

The deal: Dick Goss of the Joliet Herald-News says Matt Alexander always has felt hosting a NASCAR Nextel Cup race is the next thing to heaven.

"It's an all-star event every weekend, with a Super Bowl atmosphere," the Chicagoland Speedway vice president and general manager said as the fourth annual Tropicana 400 weekend approached. "You don't miss any of the big names."

NASCAR indeed has taken the nation by storm, and the Chicago market -- specifically Joliet -- is a major player. Alexander took over for Joie Chitwood two years ago and has the local race heading in a positive direction.

Why we care: Fans this weekend ? the Tropicana 400 is scheduled Sunday, with the Busch race, the Tropicana Twister 300, on Saturday ? will notice the softer walls that recently were installed around the track. They remove about three feet of track space that was seldom used, and they provide the drivers with a safer feel.

"We want to make improvements for the competitors, and that means safer walls," Alexander said. "I've heard lots of quotes from drivers talking about how they hit the wall, and they will say thank goodness for the softer walls. That's the best perspective, hearing what they have to say."

For more NASCAR news from around the country, click here.

Rising Busch switching gears on career

The deal: Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun-Times says time will tell. But unlike Tony Stewart, who seems to erupt at the first hint of trouble, Kurt Busch seems to have put a governor on his penchant for controversial behavior.

	Kurt Busch

One of NASCAR's talented and successful Young Guns, Busch comes to Chicago this week for the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet on a mission to cleanse his image and to capture the most prestigious championship in U.S. racing.

Why we care: Busch, who is in seventh place in the Nextel Cup standings, has had a season marked by ups and downs on the track. He has done a consistent job, though, of avoiding the hothead antics that have landed him in the doghouse with fans, fellow drivers and NASCAR officials in the past.

"Knowing things and having a sponsor help me out with what it looked like, it's easy to see now," Busch told the paper. "To develop a rapport with the other drivers has been an obstacle that I'm overcoming.''

For more news about Kurt Busch, click here.